Cooking With Ideas

Monday Morning Cooking Club

Mondays are not my favorite mornings. Well, it might be more honest to say mornings are not my best time of day. So, the title of this book is not what drew me to it when it arrived (free) in the mail. Rather, it is the ways the women who constituted this club -- and published this volume, originally in Australia and then in the US -- see themselves as weaving together sisterhood, food, and stories. The women, from various ethnic Jewish backgrounds in Sydney's diverse community -- are what makes the story. (Not to mention that Nigella Lawson likes the book -- as does Nicole Kidman.) So, Monday Morning Cooking Club it is. 

The book is organized sort of like a series of monologues -- it is divided not by kinds of food, but into sections for each of the women (and the women who matter to them) who is in the club. (Is that bad grammar or what?) Tales of the women, including their relation to food and their roles in families, are followed by recipes. The tone is chatty, warm, and, well, I am not sure that the stories matter as much in terms of their substance as that the tone is =, as Lawson says, "cosy." The book is clearly trying to give you the impression that you are there, with the women, in the cooking club. 

The recipes range from pavlova for honey cake to zserbo, from Asian style snapper to Indian style curry and then onwards to perogen, ulnyik and much more. Desserts, mains, salads, soups, and sides are intermingled. And, the overall range reminds us of generational difference -- and the varieties of routes or travels that inform the diasporic Judaism of Sydney, Australia. (For information on Judaism in Sydney, and Australia more generally, click here.) Ethnicities represented include areas from within eastern and western Europe, India, Syria, Iraq and . . beyond. 

As a side note, these women really push the boundaries as they are also a not for profit and 100% of the profits from the book go to charity. This certainly trumps all those places and businesses that give a much tinier percentage and limit themselves to a maximum that is an even smaller percentage of their overall profit. Hurrah. 

Superfood Kitchen

I was walking through a higher education conference's halls, and there was a cookbook out entitled Superfood Kitchen. Why? Because how we feed college and university students (and all citizens) is increasingly a concern. And, companies that are interested in gleaning the business of colleges know that students actually pick places in part because of the amentities (e.g., food service) and politics (e.g., the presence of green practices or...gasp, health food). I was honest. No chance at all that I would be hiring them. They were kind. So, now I own a (free) copy of Superfood Kitchen by Julie Morris. and you, lucky readers, get to hear a bit from me on the book. 

First: what on earth are superfoods? In my view, the term is a "re-branding" of foods that have been around or around us for a long time. They are a way of saying "eat this" within the context of too many possibilities, the ways capitalism has moved us away from our food sources, and the ways education has deprived us of knowledge about what we ought eat -- or ought not eat. So: superfoods are berries, seeds, fruits, roots, vegetables with, as the back fo Morris's bok says, "remarkable powers to heal and energize." What the book -- and a beautiful one at that -- does is redefine our pantry to include more of these, and thus to help us eat in more healthy ways in somewhat easier ways. 

The recipes seem easy, and the pictures make the notions presented pretty (and thus attractive). So far, so ordinary 21st century cookbook.  Ingredients? THey range from quinoa (which I admit has already entered my diet for a different reason: it tastes good), to beets (ditto), dates (ditto), and other familiar foods to items that remain a mystery to me (or I have only heard of): coconut oil, dulse, sacha inci, etcetera. What distinguuishes the book, really, is the choice of ingredients, so the latter is important. 

Will I cook from this? I might just do that. Have I? No. The real reason: the notion of superfood itself somehow puts me off. I eat well. I go to farmers markets, urchase organic, eat a lot of the things here. So, I admit it: I am not sure why. But: it feels hokey. So, given my prejudice, I include some other reviews below. Go for it! 

 

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"The Big Heat": Chicago's Food and Drink Fifty

I am well behind in food bloggery but also think that some sort of non-work thing is a key to retaining one's sanity. So, back to Cooking with Ideas. And thanks, dear readers, for your patience. 

Today: an oldish magazine that has been hanging around: New City (free from newcity.com) had an issue in April (April 17 & 24 to be specific) entitled "The Big Heat: Chicago's Food and Drink Fifty." Yes, I read it cover to cover at the time, and no, I did not blog. Hence this entry, today, in early June. 

One thing I like about this is that it was NOT focused on restaurants or bars per se, but on the people who make it all happen. The line up includes chefs, and more, though chefs well outnumber others. Think Grant Achatz, Stephanie Izard, Rick Bayless (though number one is Paul Kahan and one reason I really like that is I know less about him and more about his restaurants since I think blackbird is the bee's knees). The first woman on the list, of course, was Izard; the next is one of my faves: Carrie Nahabedian. (I recently ate at Brindille, which is a terrific and wonderful place. The tasting menu was -- well, one of the best I have ever had -- though I would have cut a course or two. Naha is, of course, on everyone's list.) The first non-chef is Sandra Holl, labelled "baker." I did not know her place, but will -- Floriole Cafe and Bakery and love it that she has a blog; the next is a pastry chef (Leigh Omilinsky) and then, there at number 22 is Charles Joly as mixologist, beverage director at Aviary. Yes. Hurrah. There are other jobs -- chocalatier; sommelier; slumiwere, breakfast queen, brewer. And, of course, this is Chicago: pizza maker. 

The profile are brief, but the zing is there -- pushing people outward to try new possibilities but also recognizing that there are people who make Chicago the food city (and drink city) it is. 

Hurrah! And thanks! And: who would you put on your list of influential Chicago foodies? (Of course, eating at home -- that means we all have to acknowledge those we live with. And my partner can definitely cook. Step outaide the boundaries: who is your number one Chicago food influence?) 

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